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Monday, May 30, 2016

NEW DELHI: Imagine a one-year-old with fully developed sexual organs of a grown man.

A super speciality hospital in Delhi is currently treating young Vaibhav (name changed on parents’ request) who has been diagnosed with a rare condition called precocious or early puberty.

The toddler’s parents noticed disturbing physical changes when Vaibhav was six months old. Not only was he taller than other children his age, his genitals too had started growing abnormally.

“We thought, maybe he was just a big baby, so we did not take him to the doctor. But by the time he was one, it was apparent there was something wrong. My mother-in-law, who has taken care of several children in the family, also said that his growth seemed unnatural. That is when we took him to the doctor,” said his mother.

Vaibhav was taken to a doctor when he was 18 months old. By then, he was 95cm tall, 10-15cm taller than children his age and had already started getting facial and body hair. His voice had also started breaking, and he had fully developed sexual organs.

“His testosterone levels were exceptionally high, as high as that of a 25-year-old, because of which he had started experiencing physical changes. Since he was so young, he was not able to understand what was happening. He would experience sexual urges too,” said Dr Vaishakhi Rustagi, consulting paediatric endocrinologist at Max Super Speciality Hospital, Shalimar Bagh. He is treating Vaibhav.

His tests revealed that his testosterone levels were 500-600 nanogram per deciliter (ng/dl). A one-year-old baby’s testosterone level is usually 20 ng/dl.

Precocious puberty is a very rare condition, especially at such a young age. According to Dr Rustagi, only one in 1,00,000 have this condition, with the incidence increasing to one to two in 1,00,000 in boys aged eight to 10.

“It is a rare case that happens once in 10-odd years. Precocious puberty is traumatic for a child of his age. The baby can’t express his feelings or understand what his happening to him, while his parents are left confused,” said Dr Rustagi.

Further tests revealed that there was no underlying cause for the increased levels of hormones and the doctors put him on hormone therapy. He needs to take hormonal injections that help in blocking the effect of the hormones once a month. Later, the dose will be reduced to once in three months till he is 10-11 years old and is ready to accept the changes in his body.

Vaibhav’s parents spend Rs 11,000 a month on the medication as the insurance company has rejected their claims.

“If such children are not treated, they will become violent. The physical changes will not be suitable for their age. They will also stop growing after a few years and remain about 3-4ft tall,” Rustagi said.

Friday, May 27, 2016

Swiss scientists have taken a leaf from the pothead recipe book to brew an e-cigarette cannabis liquid for medical use they said Thursday is safer than a joint and better than a pill.

"Therapeutic cannavaping", they argued, should be examined as an alternative to existing treatments which can come in the form of a syrup, pill, mouth spray, skin patch, suppository, or a plain-old spliff.

The team copied an improvised method popular among marijuana afficionados using butane gas to extract and concentrate cannabinoids -- the active, high-causing compounds of cannabis. "We were inspired by what is done illegally, underground, on the web fora," said study co-author Vincent Varlet, a biochemist and toxicologist from the University Centre of Legal Medicine in Lausanne, Switzerland.

ALSO READ

"Normally, they use this form of cannabinoids to get high. Based on what is done illegally, we found that it could be interesting" for the medical field. The method yields super-concentrated "dabs" of butane hash oil (BHO) -- comprising about 70-80% THCa -- the precursor of THC or tetrahydrocannabinol, which is the psychoactive ingredient. THCa is transformed into THC at high heat.

Usually the dabs are burnt and the fumes inhaled. But for the study, the team mixed their activated BHO paste into commercially-available e-cigarette liquid at different concentrations -- three, five or 10%. They then put "vaping machines" to work: sucking at the e-cigarettes and blowing out vapour, which was measured for its THC content, according to results published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports.

"Cannavaping appears to be a gentle, efficient, user-friendly and safe alternative method for cannabis smoking for medical cannabis delivery," the team concluded with a nod to "the creativity of cannabis users". It was also more reliable than consuming cannabinoid pills or foods which are poorly and erratically absorbed, said Varlet.

Battery-powered e-cigarettes heat up liquids containing artificial flavourings, with or without nicotine, to release a vapour which is inhaled and exhaled much like smoke. They are touted as safer than the real thing, and an aide for giving up cancer-causing tobacco -- which is also an ingredient of the traditional cannabis joint. - Weeding potheads from patients -Cannabis-infused e-liquids are advertised online, along with a rash of recipes for making your own.

Medical marijuana can be legally prescribed in some countries for pain relief, appetite stimulation, nausea reduction or the relief of muscle spasms. A challenge, said Varlet, was to keep cannabis intended for therapeutic use out of the hands of recreational high-seekers. One way to do that was to have legal drugs with microdoses of cannabinoids.

"We have calculated that to have the same dose of what is present in a real cigarette joint... with tobacco, we have to vape between 80-90 puffs" of the 10% BHO liquid, said Varlet. "Eighty puffs constitutes a rebuttal to getting high," he added, when a few drags from a joint will do.

"The take-home message of our article is that vaping is less harmful than smoking, so you can be sure that cannavaping is less harmful than cannabis smoking for medical purposes," said Varlet, adding there was no plan to patent or sell the product. "Today, we have set the cat among the pigeons. This is just the first step, and we need to see how the scientific community is going to welcome this kind of possibility."

Initial reactions were mixed.

"Whilst vaping cannabis substances... does indeed remove the harmful effects of tobacco smoke, my concerns about vaping cannabis would be around the use of flavoured cannabis e-cigarettes that could be more popular amongst younger people," said Michael Bloomfield, a psychiatry lecturer at University College London.

David Nutt of Imperial College London said it was a "great idea", but "would be illegal in the UK currently".

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Really successful people do things that other people will not do. One very important thing they do is save money. I was shocked to learn from a Business Week post that:

Just 45 percent of upper-middle-class households (income from $75,000 to $99,999) saved anything in 2012, according to the Fed study. That means the other 55 percent didn’t save for a house, retirement, or education. About 16 percent spent more than they earned and went further into debt.

The Fed study is called "Supplemental Appendix to the Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2013."

So we learn form this, even the majority of the upper-middle-class do not save money. Guess what really successful people do and why? That's right they save money or put money aside but how and why?

Powerful Reasons for Saving

Yes really successful people save money but not just to save. They have powerful reasons for saving. Savings do two things for you. One is it gives you money for a rainy day when you income drops or stops for a time. The second it is you the ability to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves. Yes, it "takes money to make money." It is true and so to make money you need to save money to have it available for investment/business opportunities.

The really successful people have money that they can invest in business opportunities. Why not you? Why can't you be a successful person who decides where to invest their hard earned money. Yes, you too can create this opportunity for yourself by saving money. And not just saving money but saving money in a vehicle that allows you to easily and quickly access it.

After Tax Investment Accounts

One problem that most people have is they commit too much money to retirement accounts from which they cannot or have difficulty taking money out to invest in a business opportunity. Now there are ways to use a retirement account for investments but not easily or quickly. By saving money in an investment account, already taxed, you can have quick access to funds to invest or live off of while you start a new business. In a retirement account it is not really possible to use the money to carry you over while you start a business.

Really successful people have after tax money working for them and have some on hand when opportunities present themselves. And what happens as a result? Opportunities come to them and are recognized by them. When a person has no savings they are not even looking for and hence not even seeing investment/business opportunities. But when you have saved money you are looking for things to do with it. You see saving causes you to see things differently and be open to opportunities to put your money to work for you.

If you are already positioned with savings and our looking at business opportunities take a look at my post on things to consider about business opportunities:

Reserves - Prepared for the Unexpected

Notice too this point brought out in the Business Week article:

The report highlights the consequences of these hand-to-mouth habits: Only half of these households had enough savings to finance three months of living expenses if they lost their job or couldn’t work. A $400 emergency would force about 20 percent of them into months of debt.

Really successful people are always prepared for the unexpected either good or bad. You should have access to reserves in case something happens to your source of income. In addition a small emergency should never put you into crisis mode.

Take charge

Take charge of your financial life. Start saving today. Make changes in your spending habits today so that you will be in a more powerful position tomorrow. You may need to look at what you spend money on and what you own that you don't need. To succeed you will need to make choices between immediate and long-term gratification. Don't sacrifice your opportunity to develop a powerful financial position for short-term and temporary gratification.

The CPA Superhero wants to help you to succeed in business, life, and in retirement. While my main business is preparing tax returns, I also work with clients to setup accounting systems to start, manage and develop their business(es) and develop and implement a financial plan. Contact me using my information below to schedule a free introductory consultation up to a half hour.

Jeff Haywood, CPA

The CPA Superhero

972-439-1955

jeff.jhtaxes@gmail.com

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My posts contain general information that does not fit every situation, they are not all inclusive, and as always for your tax situation everything "depends on facts and circumstances." In addition, the information/IRS requirements are always subject to change. So call me to talk about your specific facts and circumstances and what you want to accomplish.

A view of the world's first functional 3D printed offices are seen in Dubai May 23, 2016.

REUTERS/AHMED JADALLAH

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Dubai has opened what it said was the world's first functioning 3D-printed office building, part of a drive by the Gulf's main tourism and business hub to develop technology that cuts costs and saves time.

The printers - used industrially and also on a smaller scale to make digitally designed, three-dimensional objects from plastic - have not been used much for building.

This one used a special mixture of cement, a Dubai government statement said, and reliability tests were done in Britain and China.

The one-storey prototype building, with floorspace of about 250 square metres (2,700 square feet), used a 20-foot (6-metre)by 120-foot by 40-foot printer, the government said.

"This is the first 3D-printed building in the world, and it's not just a building, it has fully functional offices and staff," the United Arab Emirates Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Mohamed Al Gergawi, said.

"We believe this is just the beginning. The world will change," he said.

The arc-shaped office, built in 17 days and costing about $140,000, will be the temporary headquarters of Dubai Future Foundation - the company behind the project - is in the centre of the city, near the Dubai International Financial Centre.

Gergawi said studies estimated the technique could cut building time by 50-70 percent and labour costs by 50-80 percent. Dubai's strategy was to have 25 percent of the buildings in the emirate printed by 2030, he said.

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Bread is undeniably one of the most convenient foods we have in today's time. And there is no denying the fact that it can add a whole variety to your plate, with garlic bread, cheese toasties, vegetable sandwich, plain butter toast or bun maska.

But a lot of us have been unsettled ever since Center for Science and Environment (CSE) released its study that says most breads made by Indian companies are laced with chemicals such as potassium bromated or iodate that damage human health, warning people that it leads to cancer. The study has put leading bread brands like Harvest Gold, Perfect Bread and Britannia along with buns and pizza crusts from popular fast food chains like KFC, Domino's and McDonald's under scanner; all of them tested positive for both chemicals.

Dr. Saurabh Arora, founder of Food Safety Helpline and head of Auriga Research Limited laboratories clears the air, "Bromate was so far considered a permitted ingredient in preparation of breads but its use was recently banned in water, which is something that needs to be considered. Having said that, we tested bread samples and it has been found that the quantity of Bromate in bread is under permissible limits. And one needs to consume half a kilogram of bread to ingest it in dangerous levels, thereby making it absolutely safe for consumption." He adds that there is a dire need to conduct more studies and scientific research to find out more about the chemical.

There is some nutritional value in breads that cannot be ignored. Dr. Suvarna Pathak - Dietitian Coordinator - Nanavati Super Speciality Hospital, Mumbai says, "Breads have one positive quality and that is the yeast, which gives vitamin B12 and also some probiotics. Hence, occasional indulgence is fine." It is always advised to have bread with lots of vegetables so that the fiber helps in digestion and slows the release of sugar.

Dr Rashi Chahal, chief dietician, Paras Hospital warns, "Bread can be an unhealthy option if you don't use multi-grain bread, that too from a bakery you trust (or if you are baking it yourself). One has to be sure of the ingredients that are going into it." "Oats, ragi and rye breads are some of the healthy bread options." White breads are made of refined flour and rest is colour. It raises blood sugar and can lead to obesity.

What are the healthy bread toppings?

A lot of people end up making their bread unhealthy and high-calorie, bringing down its nutritional value. Cheese spread, butter or jam simply makes it more fattening. So along with selecting the healthier bread option, it is also extremely important to top it with non-fattening, healthy alternatives. Try having your bread with homemade hung curd dressing, toasted bread with honey and black pepper or avocado spread with olive, jalapenos to make the most of it.

Best bread alternatives

If you would like to explore other quick fixes, we bring you some healthy and nutritious alternatives:

Wheat flakes with milk:

While there is no replacement for fresh ingredients but adding healthy wheat flakes to your milk is the quickest and healthiest breakfast option. Many are looking at it as a low calorie, light dinner option too.

Poha:

Anything that goes on the burner does not always have to be complex. Here's how you can fix a quick poha- Quickly wash your poha. Add a spoon of oil in a pan, add chopped onion (or vegetables if you wish). Saute it for 2-3 minutes, add your poha with salt and turmeric and roasted peanuts. Squeeze half a lemon for a nice refreshing flavor. Your healthy poha is ready to be relished.

Upma:

Another breakfast alternative that's healthy yet simple to fix. Roast semolina and keep it aside. Add mustard seeds to a spoon of oil and let it splutter. Put chopped onions and other vegetables and allow them to cook. Add salt, turmeric. Once done, add water and bring it to boil. In the end add semolina and let it thicken. Healthy upma is ready to be served.

Fruit chaat:

Tossing together a variety of fruits is a healthy way to kickstart your day. Add a pinch of salt and lemon for added flavor.Paneer chat: